Friday, February 29, 2008

Jennifer Boulden had just made a slow U-turn on Hwy. 169 south of Shakopee, and the guy coming up fast behind her was honking and motioning to pull over.

This was a legal u-turn. Folks, unless you are missing a kid, you probably shouldn't pull over for strangers.

She stopped on the shoulder and the man got out of his pickup, that also carried a woman and two children. When she opened her car door, the man, swearing a blue streak, yanked Boulden out of her car . She tried to call 911, but he grabbed her cell phone. He hurled and shattered it on the highway. Then he picked up the petite, 125-pound Prior Lake woman.

Her cell phone accomplished a lot, didn't it? What if she would have pulled out a gun? This ******* tried to kill her, she should have been able to defend herself.

What kind of a lesson is he teaching to his children, who were in the truck with him? And why is his wife still with him? Lady, if he's got anger issues like this, it's only a matter of time before he takes his irrational anger out on you.

"I was high in the air and then I was in middle of 169 northbound." she recalled from her hospital bed Thursday morning. "I remember rolling over and hearing skidding brakes. A lady got out and stopped traffic. A man ran and scooped me up and carried me to the side of the road."

This is why "disparity of force" is a legal concept in regards to the use of lethal force. This woman had no way to defend herself against this thug.

5 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Make no mistake, the guy who threw her onto 169 is in the wrong and should be in a heap of trouble, but there's got to be more to the story.

Was the U-turn legal? Yes. But so is turning right on red in most cases -- and if you happen to do that immediately in front of an oncoming car, you're likely to cause an accident. Jennifer admitted that her driving, while legal, put the other family in danger. So the guy probably felt that *she* threatened his family by her inattentive driving. Again, I'm not excusing the guy, but even if there was no intent to injure, Jennifer endangered his family. It's amazing what that can do to your adrenaline level. Put yourself in his shoes.

Why would anyone pull over on a highway at the request of another driver you just cut off???

Other news reports say that Jennifer was thrown onto 169 only after getting out of her car and following the driver back to his car, apologizing the whole way. If I just cut somebody off, pulled over, had a confrontation at my car window, and the guy was walking away, WHY WOULD I EVER FOLLOW HIM BACK TO HIS CAR???And what would cause the guy to turn around and then throw her into traffic. Methinks there wasn't much apologizing going on. But hey, I wasn't there -- I'm just trying to fill in the holes in a pretty unconvincing timeline of events.

So, go ahead and advocate shooting the guy dead, but that way we certainly wouldn't be getting the whole story. I'd rather see the guy in jail.

Regardless of what she said, picking her up and throwing her into traffic is a life-threatening act. She could be the shrillest shrew in the world, but that wouldn't justify the attempted murder.

The other driver, regardless of her provocation, needs to act like an adult, especially when he's in front of his kids. They need a good example, not "I'm mad so I get to kill you, now."

If an adult male attacks an adult female, with a few exceptions, it constitutes lethal force. Nothing anybody says is ever considered to be a sole evidence of a lethal threat, so it can't possibly justify his use of lethal force.

Other than that, I agree. She shouldn't have stopped. If she had to stop, she should have gone to the local police department to discuss it. If that's not possible, a crowded gas station, or someplace with witnesses. If that's not possible, she should have let things go when he walked away.

I agree with you that even the the "shrillest shrew in the world" doesn't deserve to be assaulted. But perhaps the second driver *felt* he was still reacting to the real physical threat of her inattentive driving in addition to whatever verbal exchange was made. Just a theory.

If they do track this guy down, it will be very interesting to see what he would be charged with. Attempted murder might be a stretch.